Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Information

Superfund Research Program

With the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), Congress granted the federal government the authority to locate, investigate, and clean up the hazardous waste sites that threatened the health and safety of the public and the environment. CERCLA also created a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries that was placed in a trust fund (the "Superfund") intended to clean up abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. The EPA Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation (OSRTI) administers the Superfund program in cooperation with individual states and tribal governments.

Since 1980, the Superfund program, along with State and Tribal partners, has assessed tens of thousands of sites for contamination. To date, there have been 1,685 sites listed on the National Priorities List (NPL). Of these, 365 have been deleted, resulting in 1,320 sites currently on the NPL. There are 54 proposed sites awaiting final agency action: 50 in the general Superfund section and four in the federal facilities section. There are a total of 1,374 final and proposed sites.